imcominhome

Hello family and friends,

Well I guess this is the last email you will get until I see you all on Thursday. I just wanted to write a short letter this week. We had Raynettes baptism and confirmation this week, and it was amazing. The ward came through with some amazing fellowship at her baptism. It has truly been a blessing to watch her grow and progress in her life, and watch her change. Other than that, I am saving some stories for you all! Thank you to everyone for the support, love, and prayers that you have sent in my behalf. I am so grateful for each of you, and I am looking forward to seeing you all again. I have loved every second of this amazing journey. It has definitely been the best thing for my life. I cant wait to take what I have learned and apply it at home. Just because the tag comes off doesn't mean that I will stop being a missionary. I love this great work so much, and I am so grateful for the chance that I had to assist my Heavenly Father. Anyhow, thank you. And I love you. I will see you all on Thursday!!!

Love,

Elder Kirby

HOTwings

 Happy 4th of July!! I can't believe it's the 4th again already!  I love the Book of Mormon so much! So I finally recovered from my migraine, just in time to mess up my back riding bikes this week. Lol satan is working hard against me this week. Nevertheless, we had a pretty great week! But first last week was crazy. Our ward mission leader does this challenge for all of the missionaires going home. You have to eat 5 super hot wings. Like the last one is equivalent to pepper spray...so I had the privilege of doing that last week, and my whole face swole up and I couldn't see or eat anything lol. I'll send some pics home! On a brighter note, Raynette is getting baptized this Saturday! It has been so awesome teaching her, and she has a rock solid testimony. . It should be a great service. New mission President is pretty sweet, we met him yesterday, and we had a good conference! I'm sad I only get him for another week. This week is going to fly by because of meetings and what not. I am loving every second if it though. It is going to be so sweet!!  Keep up the good work, know that I am praying for you.  I will see you Soon! Love you 

Elder Kirby 

Do rags

Hello everyone, 

This week went so fast, but it was so good! We had a lot of cool things happen this week, we went on exchanges, biked a ton of miles, and found an abandoned bridge! Needless to say this week was legendary. I wanted to share a miracle that I thought was pretty sweet. So on Tuesday Elder Winfree and I were riding bikes, and we rode to this area I felt impressed to go to, and when we were riding up, we passed a car with two individuals in it who both waved as we rode by. We reached the end of the road, and we both felt like we should be somewhere else, and on top of that Elder Winfree had left his bag at a previous appointment down the road a little ways, we concluded that we would try somewhere else, but I said "we need to come back here" I wasnt really sure why, but I knew we needed to be there. We had exchanges the next day, and Elder Brinkerhoff and I found ourselves back in that same neighborhood. We started to find, and not soon after, we knocked on a door at the end of the street, and a woman walked out and I immediatly recognized her as one of the individuals who was in the car the day before. She went on to tell us all about all of the problems she was having, and how she had been searching for the truth. She asked questions about why there was so many churches and why there was so many different bibles. We taught her all about the Savior, and about Heavenly Father and why he called prophets, and what it would mean for her to know that there was a prophet on the Earth today. The spirit was really strong, as we gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read from Mosiah chapter two to learn how she could find peace in this life. It was so cool to see how Heavenly Father delayed us the first day, because the prepared person wasnt home, but that he led us back so that we could teach her. Since then, she called the next morning during studies, and asked "do you have your Book of Mormon in front of you?" and she proceeded to ask us questions about what she had read. It was so awesome to be able to meet and teach this lady that day. I know that Heavenly Father really has His hand in this work, and he truly leads us to those who are prepared. So we have been car fasting a little extra this week, and we decided to ride bikes everywhere, and in doing so we rode a TON of miles this week, we even rode to Iowa lol. We are seeing some cool miracles here though, Raynette came to church again this week, and loved it. We set her for baptism on June 30th. She has been progressing so fast, and is truly prepared. We have been spending a lot of time in whats called "Little Italy" its a super old part of Omaha, and in doing so, we came across an abandoned train bridge in the middle of the city. It was pretty neat, and made for some good pictures. Overall, things have been going well here. Elder Brinkerhoff, Elder Stevenette, and I are planning on singing in zone conference this coming week, so that is going to be interesting haha! Anyhow, I hope that you all have a good week, I love you and am so grateful for the love and support. I will see you all soon!

Love,

Elder Kirby

have miracles ceased?

Hello everyone,

This week was legendary, Elder Winfree and I threw down this week, with the help of Heavenly Father of course. We were led to six new investigators this week, who are so prepared. So needless to say, we have been keeping very busy and working as hard as we can. We saw some pretty amazing miracles this week. One that i thought was so cool happened on Thursday, as we were driving, i felt impressed to go down a certain street, so we pulled down and parked. And as we were saying the prayer, i had a thought come to my mind to go to the second door on the right. So we got out and started talking to some people, and didnt have much luck, but i told Elder Winfree about the prompting I had, and we went to the second house on the street. When we knocked, we were greeted by a man that immediately said "come on in Elders." We were a little surprised, but we went in and this nice man sat us down and gave us water. And then he explained that he had met with missionaries before and was almost baptized. So we started to teach him about the gospel, and he continued to say that he was looking for truth. We had a powerful lesson with him and his wife that day, and then we met him again later on in the week. And had another awesome lesson. It was definitely a miracle and i was so thankful to receive that prompting. We also got a random call this week as we were driving, and we talked to a lady who at first introduced herself as a member of the church, she said that she wanted to meet with us. We set up an appointment, and when we were headed to meet with her, she told us to bring an extra Book of Mormon because she had a friend who was looking to change churches. When we got to where we were meeting up, we started asking both of these ladies questions, and come to find out that the lady who called is actually an investigator who is totally converted, but cant be baptized yet because of probation. And the other lady, told us that lately she has been feeling disconnected from Heavenly Father, and she wanted Him back in her life. She told us that she was seeking the truth about which church to join because she wanted to go somewhere where she could feel at home. We taught both of them, and had an amazing lesson. And we met them again later in the week, and set one of them for baptism on the sixteenth. She is the sweetest lady in the world, she prepared for the sacrament all week, and came to church this Sunday, where i know that she had a powerful spiritual experience. We are so excited to continue to meet with her in the future as she prepares for baptism. And lastly we had another cool experience. As we were driving to go finding, i had a thought to go to seventh street, so we did, and it was a kind of sketchy dead end road that didnt have a whole lot of houses on it. We got out and began to find. We didnt have much luck, and even got yelled at by a guy, but we continued up the street. We saw a young family outside with their daughter, and we stopped to talk with them. At first they told us they weren't interested, but then we talked about eternal marriage for some reason, and they told us that they were actually engaged to be married. That was awesome in and of itself, but it peaked their interest, and we were able to teach. They opened up to us about how they were seeking to know truth, and they shared some personal experiences with us that we were able to use to teach and testify of the restored gospel. So what was someone who wasnt interested turned into new investigators who accepted copies of the Book of Mormon, and a return appointment. This whole week was so amazing. We are definitely being so blessed by our Heavenly Father. I am loving every second of serving here in Fontenelle, Elder Winfree and I are also having a ton of fun together, he did Ju Jitsu so we roll around a little bit every now and again. It is awesome. Anyhow all is well here in Nebraska! I cant believe that we are in to June now!! With that being said HAPPY BIRTHDAY WEEK MOM! I hope that you all have an amazing week, i love and appreciate you! 

Elder Kirby

sunburns

Hello everyone,

This email will be a little short because we are emailing from the Church because everywhere else is closed! I hope you all had as good of a week as we did! It was so hot this week, and I had the bright idea to tell my comps to put on tanning oil for our car fast day!! Needless to say we got fried...it was a long hot day, but we were able to talk to so many people! We had a lot of fun trekking around. We were able to see Lisa multiple times this week, she is doing so well with quitting smoking. She also came to church this week, and loved it. She is so prepared and her heart is so changed, I love to see the light in her eyes every time we go over. We also found an awesome family this week, last night we stopped by our recent converts house, and he wasn't home,  but we saw a guy outside and I felt like we needed to talk to him, so we approached him and introduced ourselves, and asked if we could share our message more with him, and he invited us right inside. We sat down and began to teach him, and he explained how he had a hole in his heart that he didn't know how to fill, we testified of the Book of Mormon, and taught him the restoration, and as we paused after we shared the first vision, he just sat there and was like...wow...it was so powerful. He said that he would come to church so that we can teach him and his family. It was so amazing!! This week I also got to see Paul from North Platte, he came up to do baptisms in the temple, and I got invited to go with him. And much to my surprise when I got there I was asked to do some baptisms because of the lack of people in the group. It was such an awesome experience. Sadly we got transfer calls this morning, I am staying for my 5th transfer. Both of my companions are being transferred, so that is sad, but my new comp is from Rexburg his name is Elder Winfree, he did a few years of college before and he is a really good missionary! I can't believe how fast time is going, it makes me sick, but I know that it will be a good thing. I am looking forward to seeing you all! I hope that you have a great week! I love you! 

Elder Kirby 

zoo trip

Hello everyone,

Well I cannot believe that it is P day again, it seems like I was just here last week typing my weekly. Needless to say, this week FLEW by! It is crazy how fast the time seems to go. We had a lot of fun this week, received some awesome revelation, and had some bomb lessons. So this week we had our zone conference, and it was so awesome,  loved all of the trainings. Sister Gardner gave one about being a child of God that really touched me, and it was on my mind for the rest of the week. Which leads into the next cool thing that happened this week, as I was praying this week, I was asking Heavenly Father what I could do to help the zone, I asked him to teach me. Well my answer came at around 12 a.m. it was so cool, I guess revelation doesnt wait for sleep lol. I quickly scribbled down the things coming to my mind. The next day we had what we call "family council" which is where the District Leaders and the STL's meet for a quick meeting and discuss what needs to happen in our zone. I was then happy to share the revelation that I received, and we were able to council and discuss all about it! It was so amazing to feel the spirit, and also to learn to receive revelation! I am so thankful for Heavenly Father and His loving guidance. Anyhow, the rest of the week was equally as amazing, we are teaching some pretty amazing people, Lisa is still doing good, she is working so hard to stop smoking, she always tells us that her motivation is her baptism. We are also teaching a pretty sweet family now, and they are doing well, we have an appointment with them this evening.  We went to the Zoo today, we got to go with the Winter Quarters Elders, Elder Brinkerhoff and Elder Johnson, it was a blast. At one of the gorilla exhibits, one of the male gorillas took our white shirts as a threat and charged the glass a couple of times, and then it would just follow us around the cage haha it was so awesome, kinda scary, but legit none the less. We also met a random member that worked there, and she hooked us up with some free sky safari tickets haha! Super sweet! Anyhow, this week was awesome, we are looking forward to yet again a busy week full of meetings and hard work. I cant believe that this is the last week of the transfer. Time flies. Anyhow, thank you for all that you do, I love you all! Have a great week!

Love Elder Kirby

Thunder

Hello everyone,

Happy mothers day! This week was an awesome week, we are seeing so many cool things happen here! First of all, being able to talk to my family, and actually see them was a huge blessing, i am so grateful for technology. It was good to see them. 

So we had a pretty busy week full of odds and ends, but we had a lot of really cool spiritual experiences this week as well. We had interviews this week, and that was amazing as always, its so awesome to be able to spend a little time with President Gardner one on one! He is amazing. We also managed to get everyone interviewed in an organized manner too haha. #miracles. Along with getting to spend time with President this week, we also got to spend time with our stake President, he had all of the Zone Leaders and the STLs in our stake over to have breakfast in his home. It was a good time, he works for Union Pacific, and knows quite a few people from Soda! He is awesome, and we had a really good time. This week we were blessed in finding a new family to teach, the Karen Elders met them, and referred them to us. Well we hadnt even taught them the Restoration yet, but the mom and the 10 year old daughter came to church this last Sunday, and loved it! Later that night we taught the Restoration to the whole family, and set the Mom, Dad, and daughter for baptism in June. It was so amazing, and definitely a miracle from Heavenly Father, as we have continued to pray for prepared individuals to teach!! Lisa is still doing well, she wasnt at church this week, but we are still working with her, and we are helping her prepare for baptism here soon! Last night we had a huge thunder storm, it was so loud that it shook our house, and woke us all up at 3:30 in the morning. It was so wild. This morning, we went and helped one of our members load a moving truck, and the we went shed hunting in the forest right around where we helped move. We didnt find any sheds, but we did see some deer, and also a coyote. And then we wrapped up by playing some basketball at the Stake Center. Overall it was a fun week! This next week should be pretty fun as well, we have our zone conference this week with car inspections, so that will be fun! Anyhow, thank you to all for your prayers and your support. I love you all! 

Love Elder Kirby

exchanges

Hello Everyone,

The cornhusker state is heating up! Its been so awesome to enjoy the nice and sunny weather. We had a lot of fun this week, and saw some pretty amazing miracles. First things first, we had exchanges this week with the Winter Quarters Elders. Elder Brinkerhoff and Johnson. Needless to say it was legendary as always. We went in a trio, me and Elder Brinkerhoff and Elder Ombach. We had a blast working hard, we taught a couple of people and had a ton of fun. The next day, we finished studies, and had district meeting with the Eagle Run District, it was great, Elder Brinkerhoff got everyone hyped, and it was a ton of fun being there. After that, we went on our exchange with the Assistants. It was so much fun, i got to go with Elder Moore this time, he is from Arizona, we had a great day talking to people! We also had dinner at culvers, and that was amazing too! The next morning we drove home and started our weekly planning! So this week was pretty busy, but also full of small miracles as well! We had another experience this week in which we prayed and asked Heavenly Father to lead and guide us to someone who had a desire to be baptized. And sure enough, we were walking on the same street that we saw our first miracle, and i received a prompting to knock on a house. We were late to an appointment, and had no intentions of stopping, but we decided to try anyways. As we were greeted at the door, a very nice lady let us into her home, and agreed to hear our message. As we taught about the Restoration, we explained to her that she could come closer to Heavenly Father by being baptized, and that we were going to invite her to follow the Savior and be baptized at the end of the lesson. Well this sparked her interest, and she told us that she had never been baptized, but that it was something that she would like to do! Wow..i was so amazed that Heavenly Father was leading us to so many prepared people. Truly a blessing and a miracle. We also had another cool tender mercy, as we have been praying to find prepared individuals, we were led to another lady who agreed to listen to our message. We taught her about the Book of Mormon, and she interrupted us and said: "Does the baptist church preach this?" we answered no, but it was the unique and special part of our message. She then went on to tell us about how everyone needed this. She accepted a copy and also a return appointment for this evening. Our investigator Lisa is still doing well, she is in Alma in the Book of Mormon, and has made major improvements in her smoking. She also attended church this week, and had an amazing time. She is so sweet, and wants to be baptized so bad. Its just amazing to see the light in her eyes as she has been reading and praying everyday. The Book of Mormon has so much power, and it can truly speak for itself. I love the chance that i have to read it and share it every day. Its so true, i know it and i love it. To end i just want to give a shout out to my momma, happy mothers day, and happy mothers day to all of the other moms! I love you all and hope that you have a good week! 

Elder Kirby

ministering

Hello everyone,

This week was definitely one for the books. We had a full week full of hype, ministering, and miracles. First things first, the weather was amazing this week, and everything is finally starting to turn green. So we are talking to a ton of people, and having a blast! My companions and I are working hard and having fun. We had exchanges this week with the Karen Elders. I went wih elder Bahlmaan who is actually my grandson, Elder Stokes trained him. We had a great exchange, and saw miracles with setting an investigator couple for baptism. The lesson was super awesome, as we explained that the father could baptize his seven year old twins when they turned eight. So that was definitely the highlight. Then we went to a fancy Asian restaurant, where I had the privilege of trying  a lot of different food haha! It was all really good! We ended our night by teaching another one of our investigators. So i'll get right into the coolest miracle. We have had an emphasis on teaching with a vision to baptize lately, so we thought that we would incorporate it into all phases of missionary work. Before we left our apartment, we prayed that we would be led to someone who had the desire to be baptized. So we went out to try and contact some of our investigators, and we didn't have much success. However we were led to a potentials house who happened to be home, and she let us right in. After some small talk and a prayer, our previous prayer was answered. She asked us all about baptism, and explained that she had a great desire to change, and for her sons to change, so that she could be baptized. I was like what...I literally just sat there staring at her in silence. SHE HADN'T EVEN BEEN TAUGHT ANYTHING, but wanted to be baptized. So we proceeded to teach her the message of the Restoration, and set her and one of her sons for baptism on the 26th of this month. Truly a miracle from the Lord. He knows our desires and will always lead us as we have faith. Another sweet miracle took place over the course of three days this week. Lisa our investigator has been progressing well, reading everyday, and quitting smoking. Well she has gotten down to 4 a day from about 40 a day three weeks ago. So she is crushing it, but this week she came to the trail center for a tour on Friday, a baptism on Saturday, and then church on Sunday..it was so amazing to see the light in her eyes as she felt the spirit all three days. She is so amazing, and I am excited to continue to work with her! We were also blessed to find new investigators and have a chance to minister to some Elders in our zone, on a side note, we also got 4 papa Murphy's pizzas for free...(thats a miracles in and of itself) So that was legit. Overall, it was an amazing week, and I had a lot of fun. Overall, I am enjoying my time, and having a lot of fun. I am so thankful that Heavenly Father guides us in this work, and is helping us to find the one everyday. I would encourage each of you to ask Heavenly Father for guidance to one individual that you can minister every day, he will always lead those who are willing. I love you all, and hope that you have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Kirby

Alma 5:7

short but sweet

Hello Everyone,

Another amazing week in the 402, we had an interesting week due to transfers, I got two new companions. That means its my 4th transfer in a trio! I love it! My new comps are pretty sweet, Elder Fullmer is the man, he is from Mead Washington, and we get along really well. He is a hard worker, and really fun to be around. He also is a wrestler, so that is a bonus! Elder Ombach is from Roy Utah, and he is awesome as well, he is an awesome artist, and is pretty funny. We all make a good team, and we have been working hard this past week. We have been teaching Lisa, and we saw her again yesterday, and taught her about Keeping the Sabbath day holy, it was another powerful lesson. She is so prepared, and wants to be baptized so bad. She is down to her last few packs, and she said that she is ready to quit! She is also past Jacob in the Book of Mormon, and she accredits all of her success quitting smoking to her reading. It is so cool to experience first hand the power that the Book of Mormon carries. I know that it is true. I gave a training this week on our zone conference call, about ministering to the one, I compared it to fly fishing, and today all of the Elders in the zone got fish hook tie clips. We are also planning on making some sweet T shirts for everyone! Its looking like it will be yet again another amazing transfer. I am really excited for all of the people that we are working with. Plus the weather is beautiful now, we played a fun round of disc golf for P day today. It was good to get out and throw again. Anyhow, I hope that you all have a great week. I love and appreciate you all! 

Love Elder Kirby

transfer week

Hello everyone!

Yet another great week here in the cornhusker state. Well we got the fullness of the typical weather here... one day it was 70 degrees. Aaaaannnndd the next day we had a blizzard haha. It was pretty funny, kinda made it hard to get investigators to church, but hey we had a lot of fun! This week was amazing, we saw some cool miracles with our investigators. Lisa, when we followed up with her was the biggest one by far. This is about how the conversation went. "hey Lisa, its the Elders, we just wanted to follow up on your reading and see how smoking was going?" "oh its good, im in the second chapter of the second book. And ive only smoked three today"....I responded with "wait what? youre in second nephi chapter two??" It was so sweet, because last we had checked about two days before, she was only in 1st Nephi chapter five! So that was sweet! She is so awesome, in our lesson about the word of wisdom this week, she told us that her baptism is her biggest motivation. Then she wrote her commitment to stop smoking by the 27th and signed it with her name. Our other investigators are doing well too, we have a lot of great people who are progressing really well. The Lord is truly blessing us so much. Unfortunately this week is transfer week, and we received news this morning. Like is anticipated, i am staying in Fontenelle for another one! The sad news is that Elder Donohue is going home, and Elder Wangsgaard is being transferred to the Eagle Run ward! Which is still in our zone, so that is awesome! Also Elder Brinkerhoff is being transferred to my Zone and will be a district leader! So that means we get to go on exchanges!! I was really excited. I am getting two new companions. Elder Fullmer who was already serving in the Fontenelle ward as a Karen Elder is  coming up to english to be a Zone Leader with me! And we are also getting Elder Ombach who is coming in from Hastings NE. It should be a fun transfer, and probably the next two! Im sad to see Elder Donohue leave, we have become really close friends these last three transfers. He will do good at home though. Anyhow, things are going well here, we are having a lot of fun finding and teaching. I appreciate all of your well wishes, and your prayers, they are definitely felt. Thank you for all that you do, i hope you all have a great week! 

Love Elder Kirby

trainer

Hello Family, Thank you for all of your emails, I had a crazy week this week. I hope you are all doing well, and know that I miss you and love you all like crazy!

My week was absolutely crazy. So transfer calls come in on Tuesday morning, and president tells you what's going on, so its really nerve racking.. so our call came in at 6:47 a.m. and Elder George answers the phone and president tells him he will be opening a new area, and training a new missionary. I started to laugh and make fun of him, because he told me the day before that's exactly what he doesn't want to do. But as always, karma sucks. I hear president say "can I talk to Elder Kirby?" my heart dropped, I answered, and he says "Elder Kirby, how would you like to train a new missionary in the Papillion area?" Now keep in mind, I just finished being trained on Monday... so I was a little freaked out, but I accepted. Only 4 missionaries in the group I came out with are training. Two of my good buddies, Elder Russell and Elder Brinkerhoff are both training as well. its apparently very uncommon to train this early, but I guess president knows best. I feel VERY inadequate and not ready at all, but I know that Heavenly Father will qualify me for the work. So with that being said, my new Greenie is Elder Buxton from Sparks Nevada. He is a 5 foot 9 Block of solid muscle. Seriously the guy is jacked out of his mind.  He went to trade school for welding, and worked at a steel shop for a couple years, he is such a good guy, and I am so happy he is my companion! I really miss Elder George like crazy, but we still get to see him all the time because he lives 3 miles from me. So I will be in Papillion through Christmas time now, unless something crazy happens. So that's cool, I love this area so much! The people are so amazing!! Because of transfers, this week was really weird and not very productive, but we still managed to get some work done somehow haha! I played some foot ball with the local hood rats and they taught me how to dance! They are so much fun haha I love them. Other  than that, not much else has really happened this week, I sang in sacrament meeting this week with the choir, and we are now practicing for our Christmas concert! I'm having so much fun out here, and I am learning a ton of new things! President suggested that I read the Book of Mormon and pick out all the doctrine in each chapter, and record what I learn from every chapter. It is so sweet, and I have learned more stuff than ever. I LOVE the Book of Mormon. Its amazing. I would suggest reading in 1st Nephi 16 and just picking out all the different doctrines, and really looking deep into the chapter. Anyhow, that's whats going on up here in Nebraska! Its slowly getting colder around here! But its still the same old beautiful place! Hopefully i have more to write about next week, But that's all for now! I love you!!

Love, 

Elder Kirby

First12weeks

HOLY COW guys this is all so crazy! I am actually here in NE!! I'll get right in to it because I don't have a lot of time! so first off its so great to hear from everyone! i love all of your mail, it makes me so happy! I love you guys!

So the people here in Pappillion are amazing. Almost everyone is happy to see us, alot of times they just invite us in to give us water, but they don't want our message haha. I will have you all know that I weigh a healthy 157 pounds as of yesterday! The food is out of this world and the corn is absolutely amazing!  We had dinner with a Hispanic family last night and it was so insanely good. I even ate all the peppers and onions and tomatoes and I couldn't get enough of the "carne" (steak)

My companion Elder George is pretty neat, he does some sweet yo yo tricks, our apartment is ok, it smells like old bacon and the carpet looks like it has been there for a while, but I love it and its like home to me now. I even bought my own coffee table for our living room! I learned how to make home made ties as well, and so I have been hard at work with that! Sadly No tornadoes yet, but the corn is super tall.

Some of my miracles this week: This is the coolest and my favorite one, we went to go visit a less active member in some apartment complexes, and she didn't answer. So we went to walk out the doors and as soon as I stepped out on the street I had a voice in my head that said " turn right" so I did...my companion who was pretty confused asked where I was going, to which I replied I have no idea. We got to the next apartment building and the same voice said "21" so I looked on the door and sure enough the top floor was where apartment 21 was. so me and Elder George hiked all the way up and I gave the door a knock. An older lady answered and I began to share with her the restoration. She listened politely and when i finished said: "you know boys, its so weird you showed up here today, because I just got off the phone with my friend in Sioux City and she was telling me all bout how she meets with the missionaries," Shocked and overjoyed I said that's awesome! We got her phone number and gave her a book of Mormon! Sadly we have to refer her to the sisters because she is a single lady. But none the less the spirit is a weird thing and it was an awesome experience! 

Second: Me and my companion having finished our tracting some  gang bangers playing ball at a local park. All tatted up a big hispanic man and a shorter black man, I said hey I want to go play ball. So we walked up to them intoduced ourselves and they told us their names were. They asked if we wanted to play a game of 21. I replied with a heck yes. So in my church clothes name tag and all i took these gangsters to school. I won the game of 21 broke some ankles dribbled through some guys legs and dropped some threes right in their faces. "this white kid is takin us to church son." "we done got hustled by a white boy." and " this is an all american point guard here." were some of my favorite quotes of the day haha. They were rather shocked when i said i wrestled for 13 years haha, we were able to get names, numbers, and give them book of mormons. And of course while we played we taught the restoration. 

I will say however that some people really hate the mormons. Ive been mocked, yelled at, kicked off porches, and quite frequently laughed and and told that my religion is wrong. We went to get honey at a local farmers market (my idea) and one guy selling wood items wouldnt even let us look. He yelled at us and told us to get the heck away...but you know what..i love everyone here. i dont care who thinks what, bottom line is i love this place and all the people in it. The lord is preparing this place. Ill take a door slammed in my face or a man yelling at me, over any other day. This work is so important. if i can tell you anything, its to help with the work in any way that you can. i LOVE it. I love you guys so much, please pray together and read. its vital to the spirit being in the home. Keep me updated, good luck to all of you at school! study hard. 

I got couple potential baptisms on the horizon, but i dont want to jinx myself so ill tell you about that if it happens! I love you all and im looking forward to hearing from you again! have a safe week. God Speed. Love you all

Gratefully,

Elder Kirby

Family!! holy cow you all sound so busy! its always so great to hear from you! i love hearing about all the various activities! its awesome! I am sad to hear about the truck and the car..man thats brutal, but maybe it was someone who needed it more than we did. You dont have to worry about replacing my stuff, thats what a job is for when i get home! im really sorry to hear about all the rest of the stuff. Im sure the lord will send blessings your way! i love you guys so much!

MY WEEK WAS INSANE. we had to move because our apartment was super gross, so president wanted us out ASAP. so we are in a members home who is really cool.  we are living in his basement living room. he set up a door as a privacy wall haha. its small, but we will be moving again to another members home in a month.  So that was really cool but the coolest part of the week is.....I SAW A REAL LIFE TORNADO! it was so cool! it was like 20 miles away, and technically it is a water spout because it was on a lake...but nevertheless it was awesome! all the locals were saying how small it was, but i was a little scared! No one was hurt, so that was good, i hope i get to see another one a little closer!! So on to the most important part of my week, one of our investigators, Florence, accepted our invitation to come to church. and she did! all three hours of it! and she participated in all the classes, and she even said that she wanted to bring Margret, who is another lady we are teaching! so that was awesome, but here was the good part, she said she would only come if she could bring her dog. We asked the bishop and he said it was cool haha, so florence brought her chihuahua to church on sunday haha it was a big hit!  

Some of my miracles this week: we were knocking on a less active members door in an apartment complex, she didnt answer so we went to leave and i was bouncing my tennis ball around and this man stick his head out his door and says " hey did yall knock on my door?" and i said no sir, we knocked on the door across the hall, and he says "cool, do you want to come in?" so of course we say yes. This man  invites us in, sits us down, and hands us two huge Fiji waters and we start talking. He tells us that he just got off vacation, i asked where from and he says jail haha. so at this point im a little freaked out, we later find out that he plays video games for a living and tests them too. We ask if we can share our message, and he says "yeah but can we go on the porch, i want to smoke." so we went out on the porch and he lights up this huge cigar and says to me "its a cuban, you want a puff?" i laughed and said no thank you. we taught him the restoration and invited him to be baptized. he said yes, but we couldnt get a date, so nothing official yet. we are following up with him this week! But still it was so random and so crazy haha!

Anyhow, this week was way fun and i am so happy to be out here!  Thank you for everything! Please keep me posted on school and sports. Tell everyone i say hello! Clynt, Oak, and Emma. You guys need to be actively sharing the gospel EVERY chance you get ok? just find one person a month to give a book of mormon to. It will be awkward at times, but its the invitation and effort that changes lives. Please all of you study the first vision and the intro to the Book of Mormon ok? Also love your enemies, i know its hard, but i love a poem that i came across that talks about the savior and his sacrifice, he loved those people who killed and tortured him. "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." where the saviors final words on the cross. I know its hard to be kind to the people that hate you, but just trying to understand those people and loving them will make all the difference and i can testify to you all that it will change your life. I am so proud of all of you, keep up the good work! 

Love you,  Elder Kirby

I'm not gonna lie, this week was pretty rough. Investigators falling through, getting turned away, getting bible bashed by some guy for an hour. The only highlight was zone conference! But I am staying strong and doing the best I can! So I want to tell you about the guy that bashed us. Soooo he was actually a referral, and we went and knocked and he answered the door, so I started sharing the restoration, and I got to the part where I say " Joseph smith was reading in James 1:5 and that says if any of ye lack wisdom let him ask of God." the man interrupts me, and says, " so Joseph smith got his authority from the bible?" I didn't know what to say to that, I said well not authority, but he received it through personal revelation that he should pray and ask God which church was true....Then all hell broke loose. He pauses and says "let me get my bible." I turned to Elder George when he went inside and said, "he's going to bash us, we better get out of here quick." and flipping George was like "lets hear him out" so the man comes out and begins preaching to us telling us how the bible is the only way to be saved and how I was damned to hell because I was teaching and trying to persuade people to join a deceitful religion. Keep in mind, I was trying to leave from the get go. And then he brought Gordon. B. Hinckley into it. and that's when I started to get a little upset. He said that Pres. Hinckley had announced that Mormons weren't Christians. and I told him.."oh yeah? well I,d sure like to see that talk mister." and he said oh well it was before your time and I would have to look to find it. So I concluded that I just needed to bear testimony and get the heck out of there. So I did, " I know that the things in the book of Mormon are true and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. I know that I had to work and exercise my faith in order to know these things. and I don't have any doubts, and I testify to you that this church and its leaders are true." he said "you don't know that, you've been brain washed for years to just say that because its been pounded in your head." I thought to my self, old man ill show you pounded in the head if you don't keep your mouth shut." but I didn't say anything and just took it for another half an hour. at which point we finally left. The coolest part about that story however was that I could feel the spirit within myself testifying to me that this church is true. Never have I felt the spirit like that before. It was truly amazing. when we got in the car, me and Elder George said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for that opportunity and for the restored gospel. at the end we were both in tears haha it was pretty sweet! im so thankful for that opportunity! I learned so much and I know that this church is true!

but other than that, my week was alright! zone conference was flippin sweet! lots of good stuff! one of my favorite things was "have the faith to not find people to teach."-Pres G money. I was so confused when he said that, but after he explained that the next level of faith is beliving in Gods will, not our own. if he wants us to find people, we will. But I thought that it was so cool to think about things in that way! I also am just about to finish the Book of Mormon again, and then ill be pounding my bible just in case anyone wants to bash haha. I didn't like not being prepared. Also just so you know next week is exchanges with our zone leaders, so ill be in a different part of Omaha called Gretna with my homie Elder craig, who goes home in 3 weeks! should be way fun! he is the man! I call him Grandpa Craig haha! ill take lots of pics! I love you all so much and I am so proud of each of you. Keep doing amazing things, and give away as much gospel knowledge as you have and really stretch yourself to learn more. Study the realationship between the Bible and the Book of Mormon, I would just give it to you, but as Bednar would say, "whats the point of learning if you don't do it on your own?" so look for different things, Preach my gospel is a good start. Anyhow fam. have a good week, study hard and make me proud! I love you all!

Elder Kirby

So my week this week was rather interesting, I went on exchanges with Elder Craig and it was amazing, we learned so much and saw a bunch of little miracles that really strengthened my testimony. Grandpa Craig is the man, he taught me so much about the gospel. He has a study journal that is 300 pages that he just filled that is full of personal study. It is complete with footnotes and an index. oh and I forgot to mention that he started this one in December. so it inspired me to start my own, and I had day one yesterday and I am excited to see how it goes. When I got back with Elder George, we went to a thing called "farm friday". A few weeks ago we met some nice farmers at the local farmers market and they invited us out on Friday to do some farm work and they would feed us lunch. so we decided to go out. When we got to the farm everything looked fairly normal, its like a 4 acre plot around this guys house. We started the grand tour, and that's when I was like what the heck is this place. The farm is "all natural" so no chemicals of any kind. And no kidding it looks like this son of a gun just grabbed random seeds and chucked them all over. There was no organization what so ever! it was sketchy. Then he grabs a leaf off of some plant and was like I wonder what this tastes like. So he ate the leaf. "tastes like cucumber" was all he said. so he hands me this leaf that is prickly and has tons of hairs and says "give it a try" so I thought well I got nothing else to lose. so I popped it in my mouth and sure enough it tasted like cucumbers. but I spit it out because of the hairs. 

I also had a old lady that we teach make me promise I would contact Ellen so that she could have a surgery that she cant afford. it was kind of sad, and I couldn't tell her no, so now I have been asking all the members of the ward to see if they can get me in contact with her hahaha. its crazy. she always buys us a ton of ties, so my collection is growing at a rapid pace haha! We also were able to take a recent convert Mark to the temple this week, and holy cow was that nuts. He printed off two names, from his family tree, and he went in the font and got dunked 7 times because he kept trying to swim and kick his feet haha! it was his birthday too, he turned 59 and he is hilarious. The temple was so beautiful, and I couldn't help but shed a few tears as this man who has overcome so many different challenges walked down into that font. wow. Marks testimony of this gospel is far stronger than I could ever hope to be. truly a miracle to watch someone you love walk into the doors of the temple.

Other than that, pretty slow week! we woke up early this morning and went fishing at a lake by our house. Everyone thought I was dumb for buying a spinner to catch bass, but it payed off, I caught 4 and had 1 long distance release. haha we are going again tonight to try and catch some catfish. wish me luck! anyhow, I want you to know that I know this gospel is true, and there is nowhere else i'd rather be. Missionary work is so amazing. I absolutely love it.

 I love all of you guys and I am so happy to be a missionary. Thank you for all you do to support me it means a lot and I can feel and see those blessings. We are working and I have been studying my butt off. My knowledge of the gospel has increased, but I still have so much to learn.  I can promise blessings will come as you read and pray. Seek the lords hand in your daily work, he WILL provide. I pray to meet just one soul everyday. But I also acknowledge the lords hand in this work, and I have that faith not to find anyone if im not supposed to. but the lord has always given me one soul to help in my day. Pray for that and share the gospel at school. Thats my biggest regret is not sharing the gospel with everyone. let the spirit guide you and you wont do any thing wrong. i love you all, keep it up! sending prayers your way. Love ya.

Elder Kirby

My week: First off exchanges were straight fire. I went with our district leader to a place called Rockbrook, Elder Roos is a very quiet kid from Logan, but he is a hoot and a half. We went deep into the Spanish ghetto of Omaha. Like I mean deep. They call it little Mexico because 90% of the peeps there speak Spanish. He was sorta depressed because we had to go to that area, so I asked him why he was so upset and he said "well its almost a waste of time because we don't speak Spanish." I grinned as he said this, because I took it as a challenge. So sure enough we start pounding the brick streets of little Mexico and I ran into this young Spanish family and said hello, they waved us on and said "no habla engles" to which I responded "como estas" they were so shocked and we carried on a little conversation, and I gave them just enough info to take a Spanish Book of Mormon. I LOVED it. I gave away 2 books and taught the restoration to 3 people in Spanish, of course it was really rough and not very good, but I thought that, we are missionaries and it is our sacred responsibility to try and share the gospel with everyone. it wasn't fair of me to not share just because there was a language barrier, I took 2 years of Spanish for a reason haha. anyhow, so that was pretty sweet, we ate some good food at a little Mexican shop and then had a pretty slow day.

    My next cool thing happened the next day, our investigator wanted a bigger BofM so we got her a  huge one and took it over to her so she could start reading. When we showed up, she was in tears because she was so excited. I felt prompted and asked her to be baptized.. So I was pumped out of my mind, and that was the end of our night. well, My heart broke and I wanted to just sit down and cry right where I was. But I prayed so hard that night for a miracle on sunday.  we even decided to fast as a companionship. The next morning, I decided to call her and invite her to church, much to my surprise she said yes,  that is a miracle if I've ever seen one. But it gets better. So she has various health issues and she got really sick after sacrament, and wanted to go home, so we said that's ok, and out of nowhere, the sister missionaries in our ward come flying down the hall saying that she is sick and wants a blessing. So we went and talked to her and asked her who she wanted to giver her this blessing and almost instantly, "Elder Kirby", so I stepped up, shaking like crazy put my hands on this womans head and offered her a blessing. I have no recollection of what I said, but I could feel the spirit quite literally pulsing through me. It was sick. Then when I was finished, she stood up with tears in her eyes, and said "thank you for that phone call." wow. that's all I have to say is wow. She gave me a hug too and I was a little shell shocked haha it was ok though, cause she is 70. haha! we are going to keep working on her, its just amazing the faith that she has and how much the Lord really loves her. its so nuts. anyhow, it was awesome to experience.

Hey momma, and family. So good news and bad news, not a very productive week, our investigator is dropping us. On Thursday after our lesson, so that kinda sucks! but maybe we will see miracles. So we just found out today that Elder George is going to be the new disctrict leader, which means I am his assistant! so that is sweet! I get to also take out a new Elder today after we get done here! That is going to be legit as well. I have been studying my butt off in the scriptures. Im already in Alma, and I cant get enough, there literally is not enough time to read in the day! I absolutely love the BofM its so great and has so many hidden symbols and teachings about Christ. its just awesome. If you get time, I want you all as a family to watch on youtube Jefferey R Hollands "testimony of the Book of Mormon" its life changing. Please please please watch that together. I love hearing from all of you. So game day in Omaha its nuts. literally the whole town wears red. And no one is outside. It turns into a ghost town as soon as the pre game starts. I did break down and buy a huskers hat to wear in the car haha! its pretty sweet! I got to also go to downtown Omaha and see the famous pioneer statues yesterday! it was way cool, I also got to watch the labor day parade! Good stuff out here in Omaha. Im trying to get ahold of the local highschool wrestling coach to see if I can do some morning workouts with the team. I taught Elder George stance, hand control, and shots yesterday. So i'm getting my new partner trained up so we can practice haha! Other than that, Papio is pretty slow right now, but we are going to pick some things up around here now that we are in charge. Anyhow family, I am sorry I don't have very many stories this week, but hopefully next week is a little more exciting! until then, keep me updated about everything going on! Be nice to the elders and clyde give them hugs, because we don't get many hugs. And its nice occasionally to get one. I love you guys and I miss you like crazy, the time is flying by! Work hard and Study your scriptures! I love ya fam.

Sorry it took so long to email, our Internet at the library went out, and I couldn't mail! Everything is going well here and I am so happy to hear from you guys! I love you all so much!

My week, well it was a hectic one, so on Tuesday, we did some service for the Marshall's, and we were just tearing down there shed, I was on the roof cutting some stuff with a saws all and Brother Marshall knocked out the support beam and the whole roof almost came down. I decided at that point I probably ought to get off the roof haha! We have been trying to find some new peeps to teach, so that's what we did all day Tuesday is finding. it was sweet! Wednesday we had district meeting, and it was good, then we tried a few peeps with no luck and then had our ward correlation meeting! Thursday we moved a huge couch super early in the morning, and then taught Matt that afternoon. Me and Elder George set up a service project with our youth at the Dodd family farm that we teach! it was so good, and Farmer John is reading and learning so fast! I  have high hopes for him in the future!! Friday was a joke day, we laid some sod for a guy in the Bellvue Ward, and it was easy, I knocked it out pretty quick! then we packed up our whole room and moved in with Dr. Schooff! His house is HUGE! and our closet is the size of our old room. So I'm sitting pretty good right now! We can literally do cartwheels in our study room and our bedroom is pretty big as well! I'm so happy to get out of my small room that we were staying in! Saturday and Sunday were really good with general conference, I took like 6 pages of notes, but a quote that stood out to me was " I'll build thee, and thee build me, and together we will obtain eternity." I loved that, I love serving others, and that quote just reminded me that service is so important in fellow shipping others into our church. I loved conference.

Update on the music skills, I can read music fairly well now, and I have begun playing the piano. Elder George is such a good teacher! I'm learning some hymns now! I love music, its so awesome! I can play the right hand stuff fairly well, its just like the bass notes and the chords that really throw me off! But I love it and I am working hard on that as well! That basically sums up my week! I'm going to play ball today after we get done e mailing, also i am proud to report that i am 5 weeks without soda of any kind. It feels so nice! I'm cutting out other sweets slowly! 

Future Husker,

Elder Kirby

YOOOOOO fam! Sounds like Idaho is still there and doing well! I'm so happy to hear from you all! I had a pretty sweet week!! Thanks again for all your messages!

My week was pretty flippin cool!!! So the biggest parts of my week, were we taught M who is an older lady we teach, her Brother was just baptized 6 months ago. So we taught her another restoration lesson and it was so good! I'm so excited for her progression.  Next on Friday, we got a surprise text that said hey zone, we are going to the temple today. Be here at 11! so I was super pumped to go!! Well when we got there it ended up that the session was too full, so president asked for some people to do initiatory for some of his family names. So I ended up doing that with 3 other elders!! It was so amazing, I love the temple so much, but I do have to say, the Provo one is still my favorite! We also went to this place called LOLO's which is like this African American chicken and waffles place. OH MY GOSH it was the best thing ever!! it totally made the whole day perfect. So the next day we taught our investigator Matt. it was a good lesson, and we even invited him to be baptized again, and he said he would only if he could clean the font with bleach. So we said yeah I guess you could do that haha. He is a clean freak. its insane. So Sunday was a good day as well, we had a good time at church and then later that evening, We taught the Dodd family. The lesson was incredible. We taught the "Gospel of Jesus Christ" lesson and it was by far one of the most spiritual experiences I have ever had. You could tell that what we were teaching really touched him and his wife. Not to mention the miracle that happened!! Ok so we wanted to take this member with us, and he cancelled last minute. So we happen to run into the cottonwood sisters and say hey we need a member from your ward to come out with us tonight, who do you know? and they got us this man who was super happy and pumped to come with us. Turns out the guy grew up in Grace and totally know all about that area!? that was cool, but then when we got out to the Dodds house, they figured out that they both home school at the same place, they both are writers, and they both only like organic stuff. We couldn't get them to shut up because they just kept finding more and more things in common!! The lesson ended up being 2 and a half hours long. But it was so good. 

After that lesson, we had two Elders from Huron South Dakota come down to stay the night with us because they had a dentist appointment down here and they live 5 hours away. It was cool because one of them was Elder Peterson who I took out on his first day! it was nice to see him again! So yesterday, since we had a long P day, we got together with like 10 other Elders and had a NERF war in the gym of our church!! it was so much fun! And no one got their eye shot out so that was a bonus! we found these guns that leave welts from how hard they shoot!! it was a blast haha!  I am going to the zoo next week with some other Elders as well so i am really excited about that! 

My week was good, i'm working on memorizing scriptures. we have 36 required ones in the first tier, there are four tiers total, but with each one we get a reward! Elder George finished the first tier in a week, and I have 13 done right now, but its so hard! Anyhow, I know the lord will help me accomplish anything I am willing to work for! I love this church and everyone in it. I know that it is the only true and living church on the face of the earth. And i have gained a stronger testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Anyone can partake of that atonement and feel the Exceeding joy that it brings. So no matter what i am going through, i know that i can turn to my savior for comfort, because he has stood right where i have and felt everything that i am. I stand as a witness to the divine love Heavenly Father has for his children. I watch this gospel change people everyday, and i know without a doubt that what i am doing is the work of God. I am having so much fun out here! I cant wait for my future adventures!  

Hey Fam

, I'm happy to be able to write you again, I sure miss you guys! 

This week was good, not very eventful, but good nonetheless! So this week, I got a flu shot. And the only reason I did, was because Target was giving $5 gift cards to anyone who got one there, so I decided to take one for the team so I could get some chips and a gatorade. It was a sacrifice well worth it. The only other really cool thing I did was at farm friday this week, I got to play with a scythe!! it was so much fun! I cut down a bunch of Sweet potato plants so we could dig them up easier! We dug up over 100 pounds of sweet potatoes by hand. I got a pretty sweet blister from that, but oh well haha! We are going out to teach the Dodds tonight after we E mail. Lets see, So this week, I finished my "12 week training" so I am finally done being trained!! Thank goodness, The only bad thing about that, is on Wednesday we start a new transfer, so Elder George might be leaving me! I'll be sad if he goes, because he is a really great missionary, and has taught me a ton! but you never know, I could even be the one leaving Papillion! we don't find out until tomorrow morning! OH YEAH!! WE WENT TO THE ZOO TODAY!!! it was so much fun and so cool! it is voted the best zoo in the nation for a reason! it is so cool! I loved it! There are so many cool animals and different things to do! its all indoors, and has like a giant desert dome and a huge aquarium as well! definitley one of the coolest things I have ever done! We had a blast! Anyhow, that kinda wraps up my week as far as cool things that happened, it is starting to get kinda slow around here! But we are still working hard! I got a weight set from Matt, and i have been lifting everyday! my legs were so tired today that i could barely walk up our stairs! Haha i was getting kinda chubby though! Well that wraps up my week, im still having a ton of fun out here! Hopefully more fun stories next week! we get to take out new missionaries tomorrow! so that will be fun! Anyhow more to come next week!

Love,

Elder Kirby